[Peace-discuss] Haitian union busting - address to write

[Ricky Baldwin]

[Folks at the forum on Haiti the other night asked
that I post the address where you can write the suits
at Levi Strauss on the Grupo M incident.  Below is a
brief synopsis of the incident along with the Levi
Strauss address and one at Grupo M.  Just a note on
this contact info: emails are considerably less
effective than a letter, or even a phone call,
although none of these are mutually exclusive.  You
can do all three.  Hope this helps.  -RB]


Haiti: Immediate action needed to support new union
under attack

The new union of workers at the Grupo M factory at
Ouanaminthe on Haiti’s border with the Dominican
Republic has been violently busted. The Grupo M
management has enlisted the support of the armed
insurgents who earlier this week overthrew the Haitian
government to break the union. Please take action now
to demand the re-instatement of the sacked union
members. 

URGENT ACTION ALERT ! 
UNION-BUSTING AT THE CODEVI FREE TRADE ZONE AT
OUANAMINTHE, HAITI 

On Monday March 1st, 2004, 34 members of the SOKOWA,
the new trade union at the Grupo M-owned free trade
zone at Ouanaminthe in north-east Haiti were fired by
the management. The next day, as workers at the Codevi
Free Trade Zone began to take action in support of the
union, members of the so-called ‘rebel’ forces, who
last week staged a coup d’etat against the Haitian
government, arrived at the factory with guns to rough
up the workers. After several workers were handcuffed
and others beaten up, the workforce was compelled to
resume work. Later, the ‘rebels’ revealed that they
had been contacted the previous evening by the Grupo M
factory management who had told them that workers were
going to “make problems”. 

Please take action now in support of the Sendika
Ouvriye Kodevi Wanament - SOKOWA (the Ouanaminthe
Codevi Workers’ Union) - who have been told to collect
their final paychecks on Monday, 8th March. The main
contract at the Ouanaminthe Grupo M factory is to
assemble jeans for the world-famous Levi Strauss
company. To support the new union at the Grupo M
factory in Haiti, please write letters and emails
demanding the reinstatement of the fired union members
immediately. Send to: 

Fernando Capellan, CEO Grupo M SA 
Caribbean Industrial Park, 
Matanzas, 
Santiago, 
Dominican Republic 
email: fcapellan at grupom.com.do 
cc: lcruz at grupom.com.do 

Michael Kobori, Director, Global Code of Conduct, 
Levi Strauss & Co. 
1155 Battery St. 
San Francisco, CA 94111 
USA 
Tel: (415) 501-1459 
Fax: (415) 501-1485 
email: mkobori at levi.com 
cc: 
Haiti Support Group - email: haitisupport at gn.apc.org 
First of May-Batay Ouvriye union federation - email:
batayouvriye at hotmail.com 
______________________________________________ 

This email is forwarded as a service of the Haiti
Support Group. 
See the Haiti Support Group web site: 
www.haitisupport.gn.apc.org 
Solidarity with the Haitian people’s struggle for
justice, participatory democracy and equitable
development, since 1992. 
____________________________________________ 



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